Of Boys and Broomsticks
by Blazed Winter
Summary: I never considered my life to be confusing. Not when my parents split, not when I found out I was a witch, not when I was first learning how to play Quidditch, not until I met him; the most confusing and amazing thing to ever happen to me.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Holy mother of cookies and cream, I actually finished the first chapter! I've been working on this for FOREVER with my best friend, and I am very excited to finally be able to put it up here. This is obviously a Harry Potter fanfiction centered around the lives of original characters. This is a joint story with baibabs. Her version is told from Eleanor's point of view, so it offers a different look into the lives of the two best friends and their journey through adolescent love. Anyway, enough of this Author's Note, please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just the characters I create.**

Magic and Badges and Trains, Oh My!

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I mercilessly knocked the infernal contraption to the ground, effectively putting an end to the persistent beeping.

Snuggling back into my mattress, I heaved a sigh, feeling on the edge of sleep before an epiphany struck me. I bolted straight up from the comfort of my bed a bit too quickly, which caused me to tumble ungracefully onto the hardwood floor. I let a string of curses flow from my mouth as I picked myself up off of the ground and stumbled over to my closet, pulling out my trunk which had been fully packed for the past two and a half weeks.

I tore through the clothes in my closet, pulling out a blouse and some jeans, and quickly got dressed. Then, grabbing the handle of my trunk, I practically sprinted out of my room and began to descend the stares, my trunk bumping harshly behind me.

"Bloody hell, Delia, I know you must be excited, but I beg of you, have mercy on my stairs!"

"Sorry mum," I called, setting my trunk by the front door before going to meet her in the kitchen, "but I'm running late. I told Ellie I'd meet her at the Leaky Cauldron at 8 and it takes an hour to get there!" I glanced over at the clock on the microwave in a bit of a panic. The little neon numbers already read 7:15. "Can we go now?"

My mother made a small 'tutt tutt" noise with her tongue before she pointed to the toaster and ushered me to sit at the table. "Eat first. Then we will go."

As if on cue, two pieces of toast popped up with a little 'ding' from the shiny metal box. My mother walked over, plucked them from their perch, and set them on a plate which was then set in front of me.

I quickly stuffed the food in my mouth in a less than lady-like manner and quickly chugged the glass of orange juice my mother had also fetched for me.

"There, done. Now can we go?" the clock had already advanced to 7:20, which meant I was already going to be nearly half an hour late.

Ellie was going to murder me.

My mum sighed but still had a small smile on her face, "go put your trunk in the car and say good-bye to your grandmother."

I jumped up, grinning from ear to ear, and ran to deposit my trunk into the back seat of the car. I then ran back inside and into the study, where my grandmother was reading in an old armchair that seemed to be a constant in my memory.

"Gram, I'm leaving!" I announced as I ran up to hug the old woman.

She chuckled lightly when I let go of her petite frame, "off to go back to that magic school, I see. Well, don't let an old—what do you call it—noogle like me slow you down."

I laughed and kissed her on the cheek before I turned to leave, "it's 'muggle,' Gram!" I called over my shoulder as I ran to the car where mum was already waiting.

The world must have hated me for some reason that morning, for on the way to the Leaky Cauldron, we caught every bloody red light and were even held up by a fender bender at an intersection just outside of London.

By the time we reached our destination, it was five past nine, and I could already feel my hair turning gray. After bidding my mother farewell, I barreled into the little pub and glanced around for any sign of my best friend.

She was nowhere to be seen…that worried me.

Mrs. Longbottom came up to greet me, closely tailed by her husband, and my herbology instructor, Professor Longbottom. "Delia Abberly, always a pleasure," she greeted me warmly.

"Same to you, Mrs. Longbottom, Professor," I smiled and shook both of their hands.

"If you're looking for Eleanor, she left for Diagon Alley a little while ago," Professor Longbottom informed me before reaching over to take my trunk, "I'll have Tom take this up to your room. You go on and catch your friend."

I beamed at the man and handed him my trunk, but not before digging out my bag which held my wand, loose change, and the key to my Gringotts vault.

I bid the couple farewell and hurried out the back door of the pub. Once I was face to face with the wall on the other side, I quickly located the correct brick and tapped it with my wand. The seemingly solid wall began to roll away, revealing a street filled with a multitude of bustling witches and wizards.

I stepped out onto the cobblestone street, ignoring the wall that was reforming behind me, and smiled.

I was finally home…then I was tackled.

Someone had collided roughly with my side, forcing me to land hard on the street and effectively knocking the breath right out of me. I turned to see who my attacker was, only to see my best friend grinning at me like an idiot.

"Bloody hell, Eleanor! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I screeched, pushing the brunette off of me.

"Nearly gave you a heart attack, hell Delia, I thought you were dead!" she countered, standing up and flailing her arms wildly.

I pushed myself off of the cobblestone street and dusted myself off before glaring at my friend. She only smiled back before pulling me into a hug with a vise-like grip.

"It's so good to see you again! I never thought I would be as happy to see you as I am now. Prim-itch and Ethan have been snogging NONSTOP since I came here. Sickening, really."

I rolled my eyes at my friend's overly-dramatic nature and peeled her off of me before looping my arm with hers.

"Yeah, yeah. I think you will survive. Now let's go to Gringotts. I'm broke," I commanded, leading her off down the street.

The two of us practically skipped all the way to the great marble building that was Gringotts (though I dragged Ellie more than skipped), which earned us quite a few bewildered stares. Once inside, we both got to ride in the same cart due to the fact our vaults were close to one another.

As soon as the little cart lurched forward down the track, Ellie and I threw our arms in the air and screamed at the top of our lungs while we traveled along various twists and turns. I am truly positive it annoyed the goblin whom was accompanying us, for he kept shooting us glares and murmuring under his breath while the two of us retrieved our funds.

I am pretty sure he was contemplating leaving us in the dark tunnel. The rotten little booger.

After our bags were heavy and jingling with our newly acquired gold, Ellie and I headed off toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. I needed to replace all of mine, for an unfortunate accident at our last charms class left mine in shreds from an angry encounter with an animated pair of scissors; an event that Ellie seems to achieve much pleasure from. Curse her.

I also needed new Quidditch robes. At this thought, I jumped, grabbing Ellie's shoulder and spinning her around to face me.

"I forgot to tell you! Guess who the new captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team is!" I exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Ellie furrowed her brow in thought, "hmmm…Peeves?"

This response earned her a nice smack on the head, "no, you blooming idiot!"

"I'm not a divvy, you know. So let me really guess this time. Is it you?" she asked, smiling while she pointed a slim finger at me.

"As a matter of fact, yes, it is," I replied curtly with my arms folded defiantly across my chest.

Suddenly, Ellie flung herself at me, just as she had when I had arrived at Diagon Alley earlier, "I am so proud of you!"

I merely laughed and peeled her off of me so we could enter the store. After our robes were fitted and paid for, we headed off to Flourish & Blott's to pick up our multiple text books required for fifth years.

After our arms were laden with the books, Ellie still managed to drag me off to Eelops Owl Emporium insisting that we split the cost to buy a barn owl we could share. Her reasoning behind this was that both of us each had our own little saw-whet owls, but they were much too small to carry a package to save their lives. She had a point, so I reluctantly agreed.

We ended up buying a large male, and Ellie insisted on naming him Bairrfhionn. I scoffed at her name choice, but found it amusing. I could always just call him Bair.

We stopped by the Apothecary to pick up potion supplies, and then it was my turn to drag Ellie to a store; Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was probably my absolute favorite place on earth aside from Hogwarts. Ever since my second year, I had been the holder of a chaser position on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and had just been deemed captain.

I ended up buying a couple books on flying techniques and broom care once we were inside. I already owned about half the items in the store anyway. I then made the biggest, and probably most important, purchase of my wizarding life. My mother had finally agreed to give me the money to buy the new Firebolt 360. I lost count of how many lawns I'm going to have to mow to pay her back. I was so excited once I purchased it that I was unable to shut up. Ellie ended up slapping me. That did the trick.

Once we exited the quidditch shop, it was already dark, so we decided it was time to head back to the Leaky Cauldron and examine our new purchases.

We quickly proceeded to the room we would be sharing for the next week and gushed over my new broom and Bairrfhionn for a good half hour. Our stomachs then reminded us that we required food, so we headed down to the main floor of the Leaky Cauldron for dinner.

We plopped down at the same table our best friend, Ethan Alcott, was sitting at. He ignored us.

"HI ETHAN!" I bellowed, throwing a crumpled napkin at his brunette little head.

Ethan then picked up the crumpled napkin that had collided with his head, compressed it into an even smaller ball, and attempted to shoot it down my shirt.

Luckily he missed, but I still glared at him, "You are so lucky we aren't in school, or I would _so_ jinx you."

I am quite talented at jinxes.

"Or you could just make him do laps of the Quidditch field," Ellie piped up enthusiastically, "Ravenclaw's keeper could always use some more speed." She was smirking quite evilly.

Ethan scoffed at her suggestion, "she doesn't have that kind of power over me, only the Quidditch Captain does, and I hear it might be our seeker, Avery."

Ellie burst into full out laughter at Ethan's assumption, "Avery…really; you think little Avery Kerr could be captain?" She was clutching her sides by this point, "I don't even understand how he became a Ravenclaw in the first place!"

Eleanor had a point; Avery Kerr was an extremely scrawny little boy, especially considering he was a year older than us. He couldn't even get into the common room half of the time because he never understood the riddles. Even so, he was light and fast, and extremely good on a broom, but couldn't stand up for anything to save his life. A toothpick was probably sturdier than that boy's spine.

"Oh yeah! Well who's gonna be the captain, then?" Ethan seethed.

I smiled, the most cliché line ever popped into my head. I just had to grab at this golden opportunity, "You're looking at her," I said slyly.

Ethan's jaw dropped, which only made Ellie's laughter increase, "no way!" he exclaimed, obviously surprised.

I nod, and then join in Ellie's laughter at Ethan's dumbfounded expression. Suddenly, a girl with platinum blond hair approached us, looking quite disgusted at our laughter. At the same time, both Ellie and I stuck our feet out in front of the approaching girl. She stumbled, almost falling, but Ethan caught her, shooting a glare at our seemingly apologetic faces.

"Whoops, so sorry," we said in unison while putting on our best puppy-dog faces.

Ethan merely rolled his eyes while the blonde glared daggers at us.

That blonde just happened to be Primrose Lanphear, a stuck-up Slytherine pure-blood who just so happened to also be Ethan's 'significant other'.

Ellie and I ultimately despised her.

Dinner went by with Primrose and Ethan exchanging looks that only the cheesiest of romance films would include while Ellie and I watched and ate in disgust. We would pretend to gag when the two lovebirds weren't looking.

The rest of the week went by similarly; Ellie and I slowly depleting our allowances at Diagon Alley during the day and scoffing at Primrose and Ethan when we returned. I thanked the heavens when the morning we were to head to King's Cross Station finally arrived.

Ellie and I were running late (of course) and were scrambling to stuff our new purchases into our trunks. Once we were sure everything was squared away, I shoved my arms into my pea coat and the two of us scrambled out the door of our room, trunks banging behind us.

We opted to take a bus to King's Cross, mostly to avoid riding in the same cab as Primrose and Ethan. By the time we made it to the Hogwarts Express and were able to claim our own compartment, it was only ten minutes until the train was scheduled to leave. We were quite proud of ourselves.

"That. Was. HORRIBLE!" I panted, referring to the way in which we sprinted to make it to the train.

"I do not, want to do that again" my friend agreed as she sank back into the fabric of the compartment seat.

We sat unmoving until we heard the warning whistle and felt the train jolt forward, beginning its trek to Hogwarts. It was only a few minutes after we began moving that the trolley lady came and opened the door to the compartment. The two of us splurged on anything and everything containing sugar. I tried to think of it as a reward for the effort we put forth to get to the train instead of thinking of all the calories we were consuming.

Eleanor was practically inhaling her Fizzing Whizzbees as I munched on My Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans but suddenly stopped her speedy consumption as a panicked look overtook her features.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I closed the container I had been eating out of.

"I found it!" she proclaimed as she pulled something shiny out of her pocket and held it in the air.

I furrowed my brow until I realized what it was.

In shock, I snatched the item from her to get a closer look, "no way!" I exclaimed, "You got chosen to be a prefect!"

Eleanor quickly took the badge back and crossed her arms over her chest, "Of course, after all, I can have self-control…at times."

I just rolled my eyes at her defensive statement and reached for a chocolate frog, "so since you're a prefect, doesn't that mean you have to go to the prefect meeting in the front compartment?"

Eyes widening in realization and horror, Ellie quickly pulled her robes from her trunk and changed faster than I'd ever thought humanly possible. She waved quickly once she was done before throwing open the compartment door and dashing down the aisle.

I let myself laugh a little at my friend's forgetfulness before I allowed silence to settle around me. I knew that the prefect meeting would last until the train arrived at Hogwarts, so I needed something to preoccupy myself with. I settled on pulling a roll of parchment from my trunk and writing up the Quidditch practice schedule until a tap on the door caused me to look up from my work.

"Come in," I called as I rolled up the parchment now covered in my loopy scrawl.

I tucked the schedule away and looked up to see Ethan entering the compartment.

He looked around for a moment before directing his gaze at me, "Where's Eleanor?"

"What, my company not good enough for you?" I joked, directing him to sit down across from me.

My best male friend just rolled his eyes at my statement and stretched out on the seat opposite of mine, "just answer the question, Del."

"She's at the prefect meeting," I said as I aimlessly reached for my half empty container of Every Flavor Beans.

Ethan almost fell out of his seat.

"P-prefect meeting! Please tell me she accidentally got a first year's head stuck in a boot again and she's getting detention for it," Ethan groaned.

"For the record, it was a sneaker, and that brat had it coming," I said, tossing a squid-flavored bean at the boy.

"Delia!" He whined, as I continued to nonchalantly munch on my snack.

I let a sigh escape my lips as I once again put away my favorite treat and proceeded to answer Ethan's pleas, "No, she didn't incapacitate another first year. She got selected as a prefect. You seriously need to gain a sense of humor sometime. It comes in handy."

Ethan ignored the last part of my statement and instead slid off his seat and onto the ground, "bloody hell, we're doomed!"

"Suck it up, drama queen," I said as pushed all the candy wrappers off of my seat and stretched out. "Speaking of drama queens, why aren't you with Prim-itch?"

Ethan immediately shot me a glare, "_Primrose _is catching up with all of her friends. "

"She had friends?"

I was met with a cardboard container being thrown at my head. Ah, the joys of friendship.

Ethan stayed with me for the majority of the rest of the train ride; Ellie never made it back to the compartment. The two of us slowly ate our way through the hoard of sweets Ellie and I had purchased, and caught up on what happened over the summer. About fifteen minutes before we were to arrive at Hogwarts, Primrose came and snatched Ethan away, shooting me the nastiest looks she could muster.

I rolled my eyes as Ethan was practically dragged out of the compartment, door slamming behind him. I took the opportunity to change into my robes. I smiled a bit as I pinned my Ravenclaw Quidditch captain badge onto my sweater. I could tell this was going to be a good year.

It wasn't long after I had changed that the train screeched to a halt. My stomach was in knots; I hadn't realized how much I'd missed Hogwarts. I fished my wand out of my trunk and tucked it away in my sleeve. All of the luggage would be taken off of the train and up to the school after the students left.

I was one of the first to exit the giant locomotive. As soon as I was out on the loading platform I began to scan the accumulating crowd for Eleanor. I spotted her stepping out of one of the front cars of the Express and immediately ran for her. As soon as I was in range, I pounced.

"What the bloody hell, Delia! You could have killed me you git!" Eleanor exclaimed from under me.

"That, my dear friend, was payback for Diagon Alley," I replied happily as she pushed me off of her.

Once we were upright and standing, the two of us linked arms and skipped off to grab a thestral carriage to ride up to the castle. First years were being guided to the boats by Hagrid, and I waved as we passed the terrified eleven-year-olds. Once we grabbed a free carriage, we began our trek up to Hogwarts, to finally begin our fifth year at the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

**A/N: So how was it? Reviews encourage faster updates, so just press that little button and write something nice; you know you want to:)  
**

**This is also being uploaded on my deviant art account, blazed-winter(dot)deviantart(dot)com**


	2. What the Hell Just Happened?

**A/N: Well, chapter two took long enough, didn't it? Well, anyone else see the final movie! I did and it inspired me to get this uploaded! I don't have much to say here…so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, just the characters I create.**

What the Hell Just Happened?

The ride up to the castle was quick, consisting of Eleanor filling me in on the rather bland happenings of her prefect meeting. Once our carriage jerked to a halt at the front gates of the school, Ellie and I bolted out of the little black vehicle and practically sprinted up to the Entrance Hall, closely followed by our fellow students. The feeling that overcame me when I finally set foot through the giant oak doors of the magnificent castle was indescribable.

Magic was in the air (literally) and I reveled in the feeling of being back at the place I felt I truly belonged; I was back at Hogwarts, I was back at home. From the entrance hall students automatically began flocking towards the doors leading to the Great Hall, which were soon pulled open by the ancient Argus Filch accompanied by the equally ancient Mrs. Norris.

Pushes and shoves were shared among the swarm of witches and wizards as we scurried to our respective tables in the Great Hall. Ellie and I managed to snag two seats at the back of the Ravenclaw table, and we were shortly joined by Ethan and Hayden Channing who took the seats across from ours.

Hayden Channing was one of our fellow fifth year Ravenclaws, and had been the object of Ellie's affection since our second year when we met him in detention after predicting everyone's death during divination. He had black hair and brown eyes covered with a pair of glasses. Rather bland really, but he was an okay guy so I supported Ellie's so-called efforts to woo him and restrained myself from strangling him for remaining oblivious to said affections.

The hall was filled with excited chatter as friends greeted each other and began catching up on what they'd missed during the summer. We followed suit, making casual conversation with those around us until we were silenced by Headmistress McGonagall who had just entered the Hall followed by forty terrified 11-year-olds.

The sorting was about to begin. Ellie and I immediately began passing an assortment of knuts and sickles to each other as we placed bets on who would go to which house. It was a sort of tradition the two of us had, and hell, it kept things interesting.

Ethan was the first to notice our mediocre gambling and quickly reprimanded us for it.

"Eleanor, aren't you supposed to be a prefect! You're supposed to discourage things like gambling, not take part in it!" he hissed across the table as the Sorting Hat began to sing.

Ellie carefully glanced around in case any teachers were watching before leaning forward to reply to Ethan's accusations, "I'm not a prefect until the year begins. That being said, the year doesn't begin until the 1st years are sorted into their houses. So, the responsibility is not mine until later," when she finished rattling off her reasoning to an astounded Ethan, she leaned back towards me and slyly pointed to a first-year, "That little blonde girl with the snotty air, defiantly a Slytherin."

I nodded in agreement before slapping down another sickle, "I agree."

Ethan was obviously flustered at our behavior, "What about you? You make them stop, you're a prefect too!" he declared to Hayden in a harsh whisper.

"I have to say, the boy with the long brown hair up in the front seems to be a Gryffindor," he said as he ignored Ethan and pointed at a boy at the front of the line of first years.

Ethan heaved an exasperated sigh and ignored us as we continued to place our wagers. The sorting soon began and went by smoothly. Ellie ended up getting every one of her predictions right while my biggest loss was six sickles and a knut I had bet a Hufflepuff girl I swore should have been in Slytherin.

With all of the new students comfortably seated with their new houses, we were quite confused as to why the plates on the table before us remained empty. Curiously enough, the sorting hat had not been taken away and was still perched on the stool next to McGonagall. The entire hall remained silent as they watched her wave in a group of eight more people.

I gave Ellie a confused look to which she returned with a shrug of her shoulders, also clueless as to what was going on. Upon closer inspection of the newcomers I realized that they were all Asian, and the majority of them were definitely older than eleven, the oldest looking to be around sixteen. A murmur quickly spread across the hall as speculations and questions about the identity of the group were passed around.

McGonagall cleared her throat and gestured to the eight teens, effectively returning silence to the entire room, "starting this year," she said in a strong voice, "Hogwarts will be hosting a group of transfer students from the Chosun Academy of Magic in an effort to strengthen our international relations with the Eastern wizarding community."

Another murmur full of both excitement and skepticism flooded the hall but was yet again stopped by McGonagall as she continued her explanation.

"They will be sorted into houses, attend classes, and be treated as Hogwarts students just as the rest of you are," she said as she looked at all of through her spectacles. Seeming satisfied that her message had been understood, she pulled a piece of parchment from under her robes and began to scan its contents, "now, let the second round of sorting begin."

The sorting went the same as any other, except this time, everyone had their undivided attention on the students being sorted.

A second year girl and sixth year boy went to Hufflepuff, the girl looking to be extremely peppy while the boy seemed rather awkward. Slytherin received two boys, one a sixth year and the other a second. Two fourth years, one boy and one girl, went to Gryffindor, both seeming pleased with their new houses as they took their seats.

Our house, last but definitely not least, received a second year girl and a fifth year boy. The girl skipped happily to the table and immediately began to converse with her new fellow Ravenclaws. The boy, on the other hand, kept his face unreadable and took the only remaining seat at the table next to Hayden.

Once all of the new students were seated, the yearly announcements were made along with the introductions of new teachers and the plates were quickly filled with an assortment of foods. Ellie and I wasted no time loading our plates with the goodies and the rest of the room's occupants followed suit. Ellie immediately began bickering with Ethan between mouthfuls while Hayden and I attempted to converse with the new arrival. Hayden gave up shortly and settled for refereeing the arguments between Eleanor and Ethan while I stuck my hand out to the boy as an introduction.

"Delia Abberly, 5th year. It's a pleasure to meet you," I said with a smile.

The boy looked at my hand for a moment as if wondering whether or not it might suddenly jump up and kill him. After he had thoroughly studied the appendage he directed his gaze up to my face while he shook my hand, "Jae-Yong Lee. I'm a 5th year as well," he said smoothly before releasing my hand.

I found myself quite surprised at how clear the boy's voice was. To be completely honest, I had been expecting him to have a heavy Asian accent, or a minor speech impediment at least, but from what I could tell from his short statement, his English was fairly flawless and sounded rather American.

Seeming to notice my sudden bit of silence, he tilted his head in confusion as he attempted to decipher my expression, "something wrong?"

"Oh, no nothing at all!" I said as I snapped back to reality, "I was just surprised. Your English is really quite good." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them and all I could do was inwardly curse myself for the statement. It made me sound horribly stereotypical and I could only hope Jae-Yong wouldn't take it offensively.

To my relief a smile was planted on the boy's face, "What, did you expect me to be unable to speak English because I'm Asian?" he questioned sarcastically as he took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Something like that." I tried to make my reply just as smooth as Jae-Yong had, but I could tell I had failed terribly by the way his smirk widened. My face had to approaching a similar color to that of a tomato. I decided to change the subject in an attempt to save a bit of my dignity, "So, Jae-Yong," his name felt slightly awkward on my tongue, "how did you get here? To Hogwarts, I mean. I hadn't noticed any of you aboard the train."

"Call me Jae," he started, as he swallowed a piece of the pork chop he had been chewing on, "and we arrived in London by Muggle airlines about a week ago. We flew to Hogwarts by Thestral earlier today."

"Oh," I simply nodded my head, not really knowing what else to say. I put a bit of boiled potato in my mouth to give myself something to do.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eleanor turning a brilliant shade of red and pointedly refusing to meet the gaze of a certain Hayden Channing. I suppressed a smile.

Jae must've seen my glance because the next thing he said was, "you and your friend have a thing for blushing, huh?"

I repressed the heat rushing to my face, "ex-excuse me?"

A knowing smirk was directed my way, "I guess girls here are quick to flirt, hmm?"

I felt my jaw literally drop at his words, "I-I beg your pardon!" my mind was whirling. The boy in front of me had done a complete one-eighty. Just a moment ago he was being perfectly pleasant, but his new attitude was horribly sarcastic and superior.

"Well, your friend there obviously wants to be all cozy with four-eyes there," he took another sip of pumpkin juice, "and your friendly introduction and rather red complexion are giving me a few hints."

I was livid. A line-up of comebacks were just waiting to tumble out of my mouth, but as soon as I prepared myself let loose on the bastard in front of me, Headmistress McGonagall stood up and a hush fell over the hall.

"The Start-of-Term Feast is now concluded. Prefects escort your houses to your respective dormitories. Classes will begin tomorrow."

With that, the Hall burst back to life as the shouts of prefects were forced over the excited chatter of the under classmen. I quickly stood up from my seat and, after shooting the nastiest glare I could muster at Jae, hurried over to Ellie and latched onto her arm.

"Let's go," I hissed into her ear as she directed first years to follow Hayden.

Just as we began to follow the general flow of the crowd, a voice called out to me, "hey, Delia!"

Out of habit, I turned around and found the owner of the voice to be the one I had just glared at. Jae stood with his hands in his pockets, smirk still in place.

"What?" I said harshly as Eleanor looked at me questioningly.

"Just wanted to say it was nice meeting you," he said through his smirk as he casually walked past me, his shoulder bumping harshly with mine.

I felt my lips press into an extremely thin line.

"Hey! It's rude to crash into a lady!" Ellie declared, stomping her foot. She continued to reprimand Jae-Yong who simply ignored her and proceeded to disappear into the crowd. Ellie, however, did not seem to notice this as she kept rambling about how women should be treated with more respect. Her mother was a feminist and it had rubbed off on her quite a bit.

Ellie eventually had to leave me as we neared the Ravenclaw tower; it was her duty as a prefect to explain to the first-years how to enter the common room, and she also had to prepare for patrolling the halls later in the evening.

I lingered behind on the Grand Staircase and chatted with Alrick Jones, a seventh year Gryffindor friend of mine who also happened to be the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I had become acquainted with him after my first Quidditch game against Gryffindor when we bashed heads five minutes into the game and knocked each other unconscious for a good two hours. We stayed to the side of the staircase as our classmates passed, talking about our practice schedules and laughing at the squeals of first years when the stairs began to change beneath them. When the flow of students finally began to thin, we decided it was time to return to our dorms.

"It was nice catching up with you, Del. You're gonna haf'ta let me try out your new Firebolt 360 sometime," he said, a smile evident through his Irish accent.

"Sure thing," I grinned as I waved goodbye and climbed the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower, my mood significantly better than it had been before.

That did not last long.

"You sure know how to get around."

I snapped my head up, already recognizing the voice of someone I'd known for barely two hours and whom I was very close to despising. Jae-Yong was sitting a few steps above me looking very bored as he rested his chin in his hands.

"I never new talking to friends meant I 'get around,'" I spat as I stomped up the steps past him. To my disappointment, he followed me. "Why are you following me?" I couldn't keep the whine out of my voice.

"I'm lost," he said plainly.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I approached the spiral staircase leading the Ravenclaw tower, "why didn't you just follow the rest of the Ravenclaws after the feast?"

He shrugged as he followed me up the stairs, "I wanted to explore a bit."

I scoffed at his nonchalant answer as we reached the door with the bronze eagle knocker. I spun around to face Jae and gave him a stern look, "this is the only time I'm helping you, okay?"

"Whatever you say," he said. I had a feeling he didn't mean it.

I repressed the urge to smack the boy and instead lifted the knocker on the door. As soon as I knocked the eagle recited its riddle. "I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?"

"A nose," I said tiredly, and the door swung open to reveal the large, airy room that was the Ravenclaw common room. There was no one sitting at any of the tables or browsing through the neatly stocked bookshelves. Everyone had probably headed to bed. "Your room is up that way," I said, pointing to the staircase leading to the boys' dormitory.

Jae shot me a grin, "thanks."

"You are most certainly not welcome," I pouted.

"Ooh, the Flirt's getting touchy."

"I am not a Flir—" I started, but was abruptly silenced by a pair of lips on my own. My body became stiff as Jae's face pulled away just an inch from mine. I felt the color drain from my face as the reality of what just happened sank in.

Jae just kept a smirk on his face as a mischievous look danced in his eyes, "you're a funny one, you are," he said simply before he turned on his heel and proceeded to climb the stairs to his dorm, leaving me behind in the common room to sort out what the bloody hell just happened.

**A/N: Well then, I decided to throw in a pinch of fluff, even if that isn't what the characters see it as! Please review! It will make me unbelievably happy:) **


End file.
